How to Make a Milk Carton Bird Feeder Writing

Print the page and read the directions with your child: Read the topic. Then, write each step in order, using time order words, so a reader can do it. Afterward, talk about what they wrote or drew.

How-to writing teaches the reader to do something, one step at a time. The topic on the page reads: How do you make a bird feeder from an empty milk carton, with a grown-up's help? Word ideas: carton, scissors, seeds, yarn. Sentence starters: "First,", "Next,", "Then,", "Finally,". Children write on ruled lines. The directions on the page read: Read the topic. Then, write each step in order, using time order words, so a reader can do it.

Yes, both. We made it for 3rd Grade writing topics, and the page works the same whether it lands on a kitchen table or a center rotation. At home, most families go through it together and talk the answers out loud, and that talking is where most of the learning happens with how-to writing. In class it runs well as independent work while you pull a small group. Print one copy or thirty, whichever the day needs.

Good 3rd grade writing prompts give a clear topic and a reason to write: an opinion on homework or the best class pet, a story about a surprise visitor, facts about how magnets work, or a reflection on a goal for the year. Each sheet here turns one topic into a page with a plan and lines, so the prompt becomes finished writing.

Persuasive topics work best when 3rd graders know both sides: should kids get homework, which animal makes the best class pet, should recess be longer, or should students pick their own seats. Students state an opinion, give reasons linked with because and also, and end with a closing sentence (CCSS W.3.1).

Third graders write opinion pieces with linked reasons (CCSS W.3.1), informative texts that group facts (W.3.2) and narratives with dialogue and description (W.3.3). They also plan, revise and edit their work (W.3.5) and use capitals, commas and quotation marks correctly (L.3.2).

Teach a hook for the first sentence, like a question to the reader, and a conclusion that restates the main idea in new words. The hook and conclusion sheets give an example and a checklist.

22 of the 36 sheets include an answer key with a marking guide or a model response, among them the 4 friendly letter pages. The 14 two-page reflective writing and reading response sheets have no key, since each student writes about their own life or book.